Old Greyhawk Castle Features

This page lists special encounters in Greyhawk Castle that I was not able to locate to a specific level. I think also, that most of them happend in the second castle, not the orgiginal one

The Gem Covered Room of Quicksand

Mike told us the story of one of Gary’s lesser players who decided to go adventuring alone. He encountered a room filled with gems. Apparently, he didn’t suspect that Gary was trying anything devious: he ran into the room and started reveling in his treasure. “It’s great!” said Gary… “You’re in gems up to your ankles!”

The player showered himself with gems like Daffy Duck. “I’m independently wealthy!” (As a one-time recipient of a cache of random gems, I can relate to the player’s joy.) “It’s great!” said Gary. “You’re in gems up to your knees!” The player shoveled gems into his pack. “It’s great!” said Gary. “You’re in gems up to your waist!” I’m sure you can see where this story is going. When the player tried to leave, he found out that he was sinking in quicksand covered with three inches of gems. [Blog of Holding]

This would never work with my players and modern 5e D&D. They would just shovel all the gems into their linnen sacks with Mage Hand.

The Greedy Talking Sword

I managed to get a magical +2 sword. It was an amazing talking weapon with lots of fun powers. My fourth level human fighter flunky was very happy to get it. If that wasn't enough the sheath was richly decorated in expensive gems. Then I discovered the catch of the wondrous weapon. Gary, in a low pitched voice, took up the role of the sword. It seemed that the weapon enjoyed the many gems of its sheath. It stated that its powers would only be available if a rare and expensive gem was attached to the sheath after every single adventure. It wasn't until later that I discovered the weapon wouldn't accept any old valuable ruby, emerald, or diamond. They had to be unique in some way. I had to do some research in gems and gem types just to keep the blasted weapon happy and working. I went questing for purple star sapphires, yellow diamonds, blue green tourmaline, cat's eye tourmaline and yellow white moonstones. Soon, the sword became a lot of work. [30.1]

One adventure I acquired a grand long sword. It was a +3 to hit and do damage. It could talk. It could burst into flame on command. It also had a chance to note secret doors. However, the sword loved gems. The weapon demanded gems put on its sheath regularly or it would not use any of its powers for the wielder. Over the adventures this got very expensive for me as I had to give the best gems to the sword for its work. [30.2]

The huge double doors in the central tower

There was a huge staircase in the middle of Gary's dungeon. It went deep into the earth and ended in two huge stone doors. That portal turned out to be quite difficult to open. Once we discovered that portal we wanted to get past it. We were too low level at first. We didn't have enough strength to force it open. Our thieves couldn't figure out the locks. Often really nasty wandering monsters came over to eat (err, check us out). Finally, I was able to get a knock spell and use it on the door, nothing? “Yes, Gary explained, “The two locks unlocked. But the door didn't open.” We checked the rules on the Knock spell. If it worked the doors should have opened. It wasn't until months and months later that we discovered the locks at the center of the door were fake. I had to toss the Knock spell to the side of the door where the real lock was located. We were in for rough times as we crossed that threshold and were battered, bruised, and turned to stone, time and time again. [30.1] However, Jim Ward describes that he adventured in the Extended castle, which had several stacks of levels, with the ones below the dwarves mostly gold treasuer, the ones below the elves mostly magic items. It is likely this refers to a central staircase in the Extended castle, not the entry staircase to level 1-3 in Old Greyhawk Castle.

[References: see Greyhawk References]